Do you constantly wait for that red light to blink on your screen or maybe the cling sound you hear when you receive a message on your Blackberry?

No matter what the situation is, your hand automatically grabs the handset, even if it’s under your desk or in your bag or next to you! Expecting to be an imperative message, people feel infuriated when they find out it’s one of those unwanted broadcasts, circulating around the BBM world.

From being socially inactive, having bad luck or being a complete failure for not sending the broadcast forward in your contact list, these unwanted broadcast messages on Blackberry are extremely pervasive, yet a waste of time.

Another issue that arises is receiving friend requests from unknown users. Random Blackberry pins being broadcasted and passed on is a major area of concern in the Blackberry world. Privacy is a huge issue, which should be dealt with urgently.

According to a local user, “it’s for work purpose and staying in touch with friends or family since I study abroad. I do get annoyed sometimes, but well in the Blackberry world these broadcasts go on.”

Another user comments, “I’m frequently tormented by broadcasts that command to forward messages for good luck or people asking me to describe them in one word, which irritates me.”

Blackberry, without doubt, has several uses. On on side, you have Blackberry Messenger (BBM) that helps you stay connected to your close ones, in an extremely cheap rate, thanks to the packages offered by the product. And on the other, the unnecessary broadcasts and the issue of privacy cannot be ignored.

Can these negative points overpower the other numerous benefits by this 'addictive' device?

What are your thoughts? Share your opinions with us.

By Mary Joy

The writer is a final year journalism student in Manipal University, Dubai